Prince of Nothing Charming
by cavlik97
Summary: "It's ten to midnight and this cheap champagne is wearing off. It's time that I confess, god I'm such a mess." Salex; one shot.


A/N: Random. One shot. First ever published song-fic. Song is Tyler Hilton's Prince of Nothing Charming. Enjoy!

* * *

_Here comes the part where you say, I don't understand you_  
_And all those little things I never get right._

* * *

He wasn't broken. He hadn't gone through a life of hardship. In fact, his life had been pretty ideal until he'd become too mixed up in Division and Oversight business.

He'd heard her mumbling in her sleep a few times.

Something about being broken.

Not deserving of love.

Damaged goods.

Unworthy.

She never said a word about it to him.

Never told him what her tattoo meant.

She told Owen though.

Sean knew there was no exaggeration in terms of her being broken and damaged. It was true. Her life had been nothing but unfair punishment and cruelty and torture.

And Owen's had been the same.

Maybe she would be better off with Owen than she would be with him.

She seemed to trust the ex-Division cleaner more anyway.

* * *

_And in the dark she's taking shots at my heart_  
_She's got it to an art and this how I fall apart_

* * *

She was his weakness.

Her absolutely gorgeous figure.

Those piercing, beautiful blue eyes.

The gorgeous smile that lit up her face when she laughed.

He'd never had time for serious relationships. He was a player through high school and never kept in touch with the various ladies he spent any time with.

But to quote his sister's favourite book: She'd bewitched him, body and soul and he loved her.

'Most ardently,' Sean muttered to himself when his eye caught Alex's copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ on her bookshelf.

She still hadn't reciprocated his feelings.

And he was started to doubt.

* * *

_You're starting a fight_  
_It's like you don't know _  
_Baby, you're beautiful_

* * *

She fought with a ferocity, a strength, a fire that burned from years of torment and built up anger and a wish to lash out but with no skills to do so, then.

Sean soon understand what she meant by training being a way to pass time.

He sparred with her when he could, recovering his former fitness after resting from his wound.

Self-inflicted wound.

He didn't know why the fact bothered him so much. That he'd shot himself. Ultimately, it had saved his life, hadn't it? Then again, it had ended his life at the same time.

Distracted, her elbow colliding with his ribs caught him off guard and he stumbled backwards, arm shooting out and grabbing her's. They both went tumbling to the ground and as she landed on top of him, a grin spread across her face.

'I won,' she announced.

Sean couldn't answer. Half because he was too winded and out of breath, half because her eyes were shimmering with glory and despite the small beads of sweat on her forehead, the way her hair was falling loose from her bun onto her shoulders left Sean captivated and speechless.

'What're you looking at?' she asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

'You,' Sean breathed.

She blushed.

* * *

_It's ten to midnight and this cheap champagne is wearing off_  
_It's time that I confess, god I'm such a mess_

* * *

Sonya and Birkhoff threw Michael and Nikita a proper, belated engagement party in Ops. They'd all completed a rough mission and the entire silo was willing to celebrate. Champagne appeared out of nowhere and Division was empty for an hour or so, before being cluttered up with men in suits and women and divine dresses.

Alex made a toast to her best friend, to her almost sister – 'congratulations on getting what you deserve more than anything else in the world.'

Birkhoff announced that he'd bet on it the minute Michael had been proclaimed Nikita's handler – 'they had ridiculous chemistry, even back in the Percy days. They'd ace every mission and everyone was always watching through the monitors thinking a_re they going to kiss today or not_?'

Ryan pleased everyone by bringing up the fact that they'd received some funding to keep Division going, for the time being, at least – 'even if it is only temporary, it's all we need at the moment so thank God!'

It was 11:48pm when Sean and Alex stumbled through her apartment door, her leading him. She was giggling from the champagne, immediately kicking off her heels with a sigh of relief.

'This,' she said firmly, 'is why I wear boots and not heels. I'm always telling Nikita to wear better shoes on missions – '

'Alex.'

' – and all she does is... yeah?'

Sean shrugged out of his jacket, running his fingers through his sweaty hair. 'I...' His voice was dry and worn out. He didn't even know what to say. Alex saw the helpless expression on his face, stepping towards him so that they were barely inches apart. She raised a hand to his cheek.

'Sean, what is it?'

Sean swallowed.

'Sean?'

'...you're beautiful.' It wasn't exactly what he wanted to say at this moment, but he'd been wanting to say it all evening so...

Alex's mouth curved upwards but she frowned when she saw the agonised expression on his face hadn't disappeared. She took his face in both her hands desperately.

'Sean, talk to me!'

'I...can't...' He pushed her away, staggering backwards and trying to find the door in the dim light. His old apartment...an abandoned warehouse...Division...he just needed to be away from her.

She was his weakness.

His fall.

His heartbreak.

She was the fighter.

And he was a mess.

Somehow, he'd found the living room rather than the front door and he turned to see her there, tears welled in those _brilliantly blue_ eyes, astonishment on her face.

He stood there, staring at her, emptiness in his chest where there was usually warmth and laughter all thanks to her.

The way the moonlight shone through the windows, bouncing and dancing over the cushions and the wooden table. Rather than bringing light to the darkness of the night, it felt more as if the darkness was slowly pushing the moon out of the way.

'You broke me,' he croaked, 'because you're all I have left... and you don't need me.'

The tears spilled down her cheeks but neither of them moved.

'It's true, right?' he asked and he felt the crack in his voice as it grew thick and heavy with oncoming tears. He was in no way sober and his eyes were heavy and all he wanted was to collapse onto the bed with her in his arms but now he'd be on the Division bed, by himself and it was going to be that way for the rest of –

'I love you,' she whispered. So, so quietly that if it wasn't for the pin drop silence in the room, he would never have heard her. His eyes snapped upwards to gauge the look on her face – he'd know if she were lying; he knew how to read people – as his heart suddenly flew from his stomach back to his chest, now thudding painfully against his ribs.

'Why didn't you tell me?' he asked in a returned, hushed whisper.

'You deserve better!' she hissed. 'Better than this life of being dead to your family. Than being with me. I'm not complete – I'm full of cracks and holes and breaks and I don't know how to fix them and _dammit_ Sean, you should have better than that!'

'There is noone better,' Sean almost shouted, desperate to make her realise as the words came racing, pushing, shoving to his lips and they fell from his mouth in a rush. 'You're strong, fantastic, beautiful, kind, smart, understanding and I want you to need me here.'

'I do need you here,' Alex rasped, voice heavy with tears. 'But – '

'I don't care about being broken,' Sean interrupted. 'If you've got cracks, I'll fix them. It's just... you never trusted me. Never told me how you felt. And Owen...'

'He understood what it meant to need something inked onto your skin in remembrance,' Alex insisted. 'After I relapsed, I wanted you to move on to someone who wasn't damaged. Wasn't a mess.'

'I'm already a mess,' Sean said with a sideways grin. 'Thanks to you.' He brushed the tears away from her eyes with a gentle thumb. 'I wanted to be the prince that whisked you away from this life,' he murmured. 'But I was never a prince in the first place. I wanted to be the fairytale you needed.'

'You are,' Alex promised. 'The only reason I'm here, on this side, with Nikita and this somewhat dysfunctional family we all have...is because of you.' She pressed her forehead against his. 'I love you Sean.'

The moonlight curled and wrapped itself around their legs and bodies, illuminating their tear stained faces as their lips crashed together. It was the light of love and worth and mending old scars, a light that tore through the darkness of the night that was laden in fear and insecurities.

* * *

_Cause I need you tonight_  
_If walls could talk I'd be the prince of nothing charming _  
_Oh you love like you want and you fight like you need it tonight_  
_Baby it's beautiful_  
_You scream like a gun in the night_  
_Till you're starting a fight, it's like you don't know,_  
_Baby you're beautiful._

* * *

**A/N: Read and review, please?**


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